Wapishana (Wapixana) is an

Arawakan language Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient Indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is spoken by over 13,000 people on both sides of the

border. In Brazil the highest concentration of Wapishana speakers are in the municipalities of Cantá and Bonfim, the Serra da Lua region, where it has been recognized as an official language since 2014. External pressures have diminished the use of Wapishana among younger generations, and it was not until 1987 that Wapishana was used as the teaching language in Indigenous schools of the language community. In 2009, Roraima Federal University created an extension program for learning Wapishana. In Guyana, there are organizations for language preservation, such as Wapichan Wadauniinao Ati'o

Cultural importance

Many plants and animals endemic to the region are only known in Wapishana, and the language has a distinct system of taxonomy. An example is the three classes of plants, ''karam’makau'', ''wapaurib bau'' and ''wapananinau,'' which are indicative of the "cultivation criteria" of the Indigenous people. ''Karam’makau'' represents plants collected in the wild, whereas ''wapaurib bau'' is the plants that have been domesticated and often bear names based on the location or farmer of origin.

Cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

, a foodstuff of major importance to Indigenous people of the region, has a "bewildering variety of names" in Wapishana. ''Wapananinau'' are plants with magical properties, and have important functions for shamans of the traditional beliefs.

Relation to other Indigenous languages

Kaufman (1994) considered Wapishana, Atorada, and Mapidian to be dialects. separates Mawayana/Mapidian/Mawakwa (considered as a single language) from Wapishana, and she includes them in a Rio Branco branch. Ethnologue notes that Atorada has 50% lexical similarity with Wapishana and 20% with Mapidian, and that Wapishana and Mapidian share 10%. Ramirez (2020) considers Atorai to be a dialect of Wapishana. Wapishana and

Pemon The Pemon or Pemón (Pemong) are Indigenous people living in areas of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana.See pp.112,113 and 178 of ''Venezuela: the Pemon'', in '' Condé Nast Traveler'', December 2008. The Pemon people are divided into many dialects ...

, a

Cariban language The Cariban languages are a Language family, family of languages Indigenous to north-eastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spok ...

, have borrowed heavily from each other due to intensive mutual contact.

Phonology

Consonants

* Consonants /b ɖ ʐ/ in final position are heard as voiceless ʈ ʂ

Vowels

Morphology

: :

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Wapishana dictionary
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series {{Arawakan languages Arawakan languages Languages of Brazil Languages of Guyana Wapishana